


underdeveloped and overexposed

by brattyloser



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Unpopular Pairing July
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-03
Updated: 2014-10-03
Packaged: 2018-02-19 18:18:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2398154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brattyloser/pseuds/brattyloser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>JJ somehow gets invited to a party, gets stoned, and meets a boy. It’s a surprisingly eventful night considering he’s not the most popular kid in school. Neither is the boy he makes out with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	underdeveloped and overexposed

**Author's Note:**

> I asked for prompts for Unpopular Pairing July back in...July, and I'm only just now finishing them. Two anons asked for JJ/Ray, one of whom had the specific prompt "JJ/Ray Love blossoms at the end of a high between two different classes of "nerds."". Here's hoping I didn't misinterpret that message too badly.

JJ had never been good at a lot of things in life. That wasn’t to say that he wasn’t good at anything, it was just that the things he _was_ good at were few and far between. He was good with his hands. He was good at straddling the line between funny and annoying. He was good at applying eyeliner at six in the morning with his mother pounding on the door and warning him not to miss the bus.

He was good with a camera. Really good actually. He recorded everything. From birthdays to retirement parties to funerals and wakes, he had gigs worth of footage cut and edited in files on the computer in his room. His cousin had even let him be in charge for the cinematography for her wedding. That one was nice; that was one of his projects he was proud of the most.

Something about watching the world filtered through a camera lens was preferable for JJ. It was a degree of separation, like life was on display across a silver screen with a spinning reel, and he reveled in it. When it came to JJ’s passion for the camera though, his timing had never been the best and his subtlety was all but nonexistent. This unfortunate combination meant that not many of the people around him enjoyed JJ’s love affair with the lens.

Being manhandled by people bigger than him was a common occurrence in JJ’s life. He wasn’t a short guy, he could look a lot of his assailants in the face, but the problem was that he was skinny. Thin as a rail and gangly to boot didn’t make for the most intimidating kid around, so JJ was rammed into lockers and walls and doorways time and time again over the years. He was starting to tire of the bruises.

One of the guys on the swim team threatened to throw JJ and his camera in the pool once because JJ had taken a liking to photographing the jock’s girlfriend. The girl had called him sweet, giggling and posing for the camera before class would start. Her boyfriend had called him weird, a perv, and shoved him against the lockers.

“You like taking creepshots, huh? You get off on that shit?”

JJ clawed at the guy’s forearm as his feet dangled a few centimeters off the ground. His camera was lying on the floor a few feet away. It had fallen out of his hands and skittered across the floor when the jock’s powerful fingers had wrapped around JJ’s throat before slamming him into the metal lockers. JJ didn’t care about the guy’s bulging eyes or threatened sense of masculinity; he just wanted to see if his camera was okay.

“Steven, stop being a dick. Let him go.”

JJ’s attention swiveled to the girl standing behind his athletic assaulter. She had a messenger bag swung across her shoulders and a steady finger aimed at JJ. It was Barbara, the girl who he took pictures of in math class. The girl who was dating this violent asshole who had JJ pinned to a wall. She had blonde hair and fierce blue eyes that always turned out nice on film. She looked _pissed_.

The grip on the front of JJ’s shirt loosened and when JJ looked back in the face of his bully, he could practically see the anger wash from his face.

“Whatever,” Steven muttered as he let JJ’s collar go.

JJ’s feet hit the linoleum tiles before he slid to the floor. He could hear Barbara continue to fuss, but the words were unclear to JJ because all he could focus on was his camera. Once his vision stopped swimming long enough for him to actually crawl over to where it slid to a stop minutes ago, JJ checked it over to assess the damage. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking but he turned the camera over as gently as he could because there was no way he had enough to pay for repairs or, God forbid, a new one.

Barbara, meanwhile, was still berating her boyfriend. “- because, honestly? He’s harmless! And at least he has a passion for something other than fitted caps and popped collars.”

JJ bit back a smile. She was really tearing him a new one. For someone who JJ barely talked to and had only taken pictures of on occasion, Barbara was incredibly invested in fighting for JJ’s honor or whatever. As he clicked the telescope lens of his camera back into place, a hand entered his line of sight.

It was Barbara. She was offering him a hand and smiling at him like he had just shot a headshot for her modeling portfolio. Her boyfriend was nowhere in sight, having skulked off somewhere after being reprimanded. JJ accepted her hand.

“You should come to my house this weekend,” she said as she pulled him up off the floor, “My parents are out of town and I’m throwing a party. There’ll be drinking if you’re into that. It’s a chance for a bunch of delinquents to get delin _quenched_.” She shot a couple of finger guns and winked, clearly pleased with herself. “Get it?”

JJ frowned as Barbara laughed too hard at her own joke. He considered her offer. He had never been to an actual high school party before and with a social life as stunted as his – because really he only had three friends he bothered talking to – this invite was a once in a lifetime chance.

He clicked the cover onto his lens. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be there.”

Barbara clapped her hands together, eyes still bright from laughing at her terrible pun. “Oh, that’s great! And you’re…JJ, right? I’ve seen your name on your papers when I pass them back.” JJ fiddled with his camera strap and didn’t reply. There wasn’t much he could think to say. She carried on the conversation enough for the both of them. “I’m Barbara by the way. And just ignore my dick of a boyfriend. He can get worked up sometimes, you know?”

JJ nodded. He didn’t actually know. There wasn’t really a good reason to physically assault people, but what did he know? He’d only been being shoved against lockers for years now.

Barbara pulled a pen and notebook out of her bag and wrote down a few lines on a blank page. She tore the page out and handed it to JJ. It was her address. Scribbled next to it was a ten digit sequence that took JJ an embarrassingly long time to realize was her phone number.

“See you on Saturday,” Barbara said with a smile. She turned on her toes, blonde hair fanning out behind her, and walked down the hallway.

The paper with her number and address on it didn’t feel real between JJ’s fingers.

\---

Sometimes life threw you curveballs. Sometimes the universe deposited you in wacky situations just to see how you would wriggle your way out. Sometimes you ended up trapped in an elevator. Sometimes the vending machines would spit out three dollars in change when you hit the Coke button. And then sometimes you wound up at a party full of kids you didn’t know on a street that’s name you couldn’t remember because you were currently high as fuck.

JJ had smoked a few times before, stoners loved to give free weed to first timers, but his previous experiences were lackluster. Especially compared to tonight. Whatever was in the pipe that was unceremoniously shoved in his hands was a hell of a lot stronger than anything he had ever had in his life.

JJ was sprawled out on Barbara’s couch, the comfiest couch known to mankind, when he felt somebody nudge his leg out of the way. He felt his eyes roll around his head before he could pry his lids open long enough to focus on the face staring down at him.

"You alright, dude? You’re not dead are you?"

JJ was pretty sure that the questions were aimed at him but he couldn’t get his tongue to cooperate enough to answer. He groaned and tried to sit up. The voice and the face apparently also came with a pair of hands as JJ felt fingers grip his arm and help him up.

“Maybe you should take it easy. Pace yourself next time.”

JJ giggled. It wasn’t that funny but at the same time it was, and so he let himself giggle away. The couch cushions next to him shifted and dipped as the voice and face and arms sat next to him. JJ swayed. He leaned against the heat next to him, vaguely registering that the heat was a person. He wanted to tell the person to give him a second, to give him a moment to collect himself and his thoughts, but the words ended up trapped behind his lips so he just hummed instead. The person seemed to understand and didn’t attempt to push him off. They sat there for JJ didn’t know how long, listening to the music and people and general party noise. Barbara sure did know a lot of people.

“…So I was like ‘ok fine I don’t wanna leave my room, but you totally owe me for this’ and then she just laughs like – ”

Somebody was talking to him. JJ couldn’t recount where his mind had been for the past few minutes – hours? – but when both his mind and his senses returned to him, the person sitting next to him on the couch was in the middle of a full blown conversation.

“What?” JJ’s tongue felt heavy, but he managed to speak his mind just the same.

There was a pause. JJ should have probably looked up at the person he was leaning against at that point, but he was too busy staring a hole into the middle distance and trying to remember what he had been thinking about before tuning back in to reality.

“You asked me what I was doing here, so I was giving you an answer.” The couch cushions shifted a bit as the person squirmed. “Jesus Christ, how far gone are you?”

JJ forced himself to tear his gaze away from nothing and looked into the face of the boy talking to him. Glasses. Eyebrows. Stubble. If JJ pieced together the parts just right he could make out recognizable features through the fog in his head.

“I’m good now, I think,” he heard himself say.

The guy stared intensely at JJ but his bloodshot eyes diminished the effect, especially when he offered JJ the blunt between his fingers. JJ must have made the worst face without realizing it because the boy laughed. His laughter was broken up in short bursts that rocked JJ’s shoulders and it was then that JJ realized he was still laying all over this stranger. JJ sat up and the Earth was still spinning when he stopped moving but the boy was talking to him again.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but this is shit weed. It tastes like ass, but at least it isn’t laced with anything.” JJ looked warily at the blunt being offered to him and when he finally took it, the boy draped his arms over the back of the couch and kept talking, “So, anyway, like I was saying. The name’s Ray. I’m only here because Tina wouldn’t stop fucking asking me. Then she dragged Michael into it and they promised to buy that new _Shadow of Mordor_ game for me and any game I don’t have to spend money on is a great game.”

It was as JJ was putting the blunt to his lips that he registered the weight around his neck that was his camera. The paper of the joint was wet before he put it in his mouth and Ray was right, it did taste like ass, but JJ inhaled anyway. He didn’t exhale, letting the smoke lick the roof of his mouth.

Ray took the blunt back as he rambled about something JJ had stopped listening to. The way the weird mood lighting illuminated Ray’s features, the way his thick eyebrows framed his face, the way his glasses sat on his nose, made a very pretty picture. JJ raised his camera and snapped a pic.

He exhaled. The smoke rose to the ceiling.

Ray turned to JJ, “What are you doing here anyway? No offense, but you don’t seem like the type of guy who usually hangs out with these people.” Ray’s heavy eyebrows made his expression look surprisingly serious.

JJ shrugged. He snapped another picture.

“Barbara invited me after her boyfriend tried to dismember me.”

Ray snorted, like he was choking on laughter. He took another hit. JJ took another picture. “Yeah, that sounds like her.” He trailed off, aimlessly looking around the room and rolling the blunt back and forth between the pads of his fingers. Silence settled between them for a moment, absorbed by the surrounding noise of the other people in the room, and JJ’s finger was still hovering over the shutter button when Ray looked at him again. “Hey, wanna see the rest of the house? I’m not as close to Barb as Gavin is, but I’ve been here a few times.”

Ray didn’t wait for an answer. He stood up from the couch and walked away. JJ scrambled to capture Ray’s retreating form on film before getting up to follow.

They ended up in the bedroom. Judging by the king size bed and the master bath, JJ assumed that they were in Barbara’s parents’ room. JJ sat on the bed and watched Ray rummage through the closet and try on wide brimmed hats and hideously patterned ties. He was babbling about something JJ didn’t understand, about game graphics and plot theories and ‘no seriously how have you never played _Halo_? Even causal gamers have played _Halo_.’

JJ just nodded along and took pictures.

Ray looked nice through the lens. He was someone JJ had never seen before. They traveled in different social circles (which wasn’t hard when JJ’s circle was so damn small) but they’re both very much on the periphery of popular. They had their niches and even if JJ didn’t quite understand Ray’s, he was glad to be able to observe him from behind the shutter.

As Ray continued to talk about how Tetris was definitely the best puzzle game of all time, JJ looked at the gallery on his camera and started clicking through the photos he had taken over the past few hours. There were pictures of Barbara from when he first arrive. She had a cup in one hand and was playing hostess but still she paused and smiled for the camera. There were a few shots of other people who JJ had met in passing over the course of the night too: Adam with his deceptively serious visage, Jordan with his infectious smile, Arryn with her dark lipstick and the stars in her eyes, Meg with her bright hair and even brighter personality.

And then he got to the photos of Ray. He had shots of this boy who would rather sit in the dark with a controller in his hands than go to a party and get wasted. Carefully composed pictures of thick brows behind thicker glasses. Images of a night that JJ would have never dreamed of having with a boy he didn’t want to forget.

JJ was so busy looking through the photos he’d taken that night that he didn’t notice Ray standing in front of him. Calloused fingers brushed JJ’s as Ray gently took the camera from around JJ’s neck, looping the strap over his head.

“Dude, put the camera down,” Ray’s words sounded a bit muffled as he spoke around the blunt between his lips. JJ felt weirdly weightless without his camera around his neck. Or maybe it was the way Ray was looking at him with a playful smile. “You’re as bad as Gav, but at least with the accent the girls think he’s cute. You just come off as weird.”

JJ feigned insult and frowned, “Uh, excuse you.” He didn’t have anything eloquent to add, he just wanted Ray to know that he was offended at being called weird. It wasn’t like Ray had any room to talk himself.

“No offense, man,” Ray said offhandedly as he turned the camera over in his hands.

“You can’t say no offense and think it immediately absolves you of all responsibility.”

Ray shrugged. His hip bumped into JJ’s knee. Neither of them pulled away. “Eh, I don’t like your big words. Shut up and take a hit.” He plucked the blunt from his lips and handed it off to JJ, the camera balanced expertly in his other hand. “Life’s better if you spend it on the other side of a lens once in a while.”

JJ kept a watchful eye on the handling of his most prized possession, noting Ray’s surprisingly steady hands. Guess excessive video gaming was good for something after all. He took the roach, because it was burned down to nothing but a nub now, and did as he was told. He took a hit, inhaling and exhaling formless shapes into the air. Whatever was rolled into the joint still tasted like ass and it had burned down so low it was a matter of time before they singed their fingers.

Ray snapped a picture. The shutter clicked and pulled JJ out of his temporary reverie.

He took another hit and deliberately blew a cloud in Ray’s direction. “What about spending life on the other side of the lens?”

Ray fiddled with the focus, the camera still pressed to his face, “There’s nothing wrong with documenting good moments with good people.” He snapped another picture as if to prove his point, “Plus you look nice like that.”

He lowered the camera from his face and gave JJ a lazy smile. It was an easy smile, warm, and the way his eyes scrunched up like crescent moons made JJ’s heart flutter. Without his camera in his hands, JJ didn’t know what to do. He wanted to lift the view finder to his eyes and capture that smile that he was pretty sure had already been burned into the back of his skull. His fingers twitched. He leaned in. He wasn’t thinking clearly, his brain was too foggy for that, but he could feel Ray’s breath bathing his lips in a sticky heat and JJ’s whole body tingled.

Their lips met. Soft. Ray’s lips were so soft and that was the only word running through JJ’s head as he leaned into the kiss. Ray ran his tongue over JJ’s bottom lip, which was no doubt chapped to hell, and JJ opened his mouth to let him in.

Ray tasted like terrible weed. JJ probably didn’t taste any better. He ran his tongue over Ray’s teeth, reveling in the bumps and ridges. He reached up and threaded a hand through Ray’s hair and tried to pull him even closer, tried to drink in every bit of this boy he had just met tonight. A comfortable and familiar heat blossomed in JJ’s stomach. Ray put a hand on JJ’s hip before pulling away. JJ kept his fingers laced in the locks of Ray’s hair and Ray leaned his forehead against JJ’s.

“Holy shit,” JJ didn’t even feel embarrassed that he was so out of breath from just one kiss, “Way to sweep a guy off his feet.”

Ray’s chuckled. It was a brief and breathy sound and JJ would pay actual money to hear it again. “So apparently, I’m really fucking smooth when I’m high. Who knew?”

He still had JJ’s camera in one hand and leaned over to safely rest it on the nightstand. JJ did the same with the blunt, setting the smoldering remains on a ceramic coaster that was decorated with pastel flowers. Both hands now free, JJ immediately wove all ten fingers in Ray’s hair, pulling him down for a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth. Ray chuckled nervously again.

“You’re gonna be so disappointed when you’re sober,” He looked bleary eyed and apologetic. His glasses were sliding off his face. “I am literally the biggest loser in the world.”

JJ rolled his eyes. He tightened his grip in Ray’s hair and pulled him down. “That makes two of us,” he muttered before their lips connected again.

This time the kiss was rough. Ray nipped at JJ’s lip. A pleasurable sort of pain throbbed where Ray’s teeth sunk into his flesh and JJ whimpered. He didn’t mean to. It just sort of happened. Ray took this as a good sign and moved on from JJ’s mouth to his throat. JJ felt a shiver run down his spine as Ray’s eager mouth, all heat and teeth, marked his pale skin. An anxious energy swirled in his gut, tumbling with the familiar heat that had bloomed there minutes ago.

JJ didn’t have much experience when it came to intimacy. Like at all. He had never had someone run their calloused fingertips beneath his shirt the way Ray did. He didn’t know his nipples were so damn sensitive as Ray rubbed his thumb over one and continued to suck on a particularly sensitive spot along JJ’s throat. He was laying on Barbara’s parents’ bed with his shirt rucked up beneath his armpits and a strangely wonderful boy was lavishing him with physical affection and yet JJ couldn’t ignore the ominous feeling bubbling in his stomach.

The kisses trailed back up to JJ’s mouth and when Ray’s lips met his again, JJ realized what was wrong. He was a virgin. JJ had never had sex before and he was actually kind of scared to start tonight.

And when Ray slipped his hand between them and started to fumble with the button on JJ’s pants with shaky fingers, JJ couldn’t fight the fear anymore. He pulled back and laughed nervously. Ray paused, fingers frozen in place. He looked down at JJ, gaze still unfocused behind his thick lenses.

JJ didn’t know how to not be awkward about this, so he decided to be upfront instead. “Um, so…I’m a virgin?” He fidgeted and avoided looking Ray in the eyes. Which was pretty difficult considering JJ was essentially pinned beneath him at the moment. “Hope that’s not a problem?”

A beat of silence. Then Ray laughed, a short, sharp sound that JJ could find himself falling in love with, and rested his forehead against JJ’s. "Thank fucking Christ," he said. The words were breathy and slurred and JJ was surprised he could even make them out. "I’ve never gotten past first base. I have no clue what I’m doing."

JJ laughed. He hooked his fingers in the fabric of the front of Ray’s graphic t-shirt and laughed. The nervous weight that had moved from his gut to his chest lessened. When his giggles died down, he shrugged before looking up at Ray through long lashes. “We could stop?”

Ray hummed and JJ could feel it in his face, so he was a little sad when Ray pulled away. “Yeah,” Ray said with bloodshot eyes and a sleepy smile, “Sounds good.”

So they ditched the party. JJ grabbed his camera and Ray stuffed some of the hats and ties back in the closet. They stumbled downstairs and, when they couldn’t find Barbara to say goodbye, slipped out the front door and into the chilly night air. They stood on the front porch for a minute before JJ remembered that he had no clue how to get home. He had no clue how he got here either.

“I’ll walk you home,” JJ said, running his thumb over the ridged ring of his shutter button. It was the least he could do after bailing on their make out session. Maybe he could figure out where he was if they walked around a bit.

“Nah,” Ray stepped off the porch steps, scratching the back of his neck, “I’ll walk _you_ home. As a sort of apology I guess? For making you uncomfortable and giving you a shitton of hickeys.”

JJ instinctively brought a hand to his neck. “Because you’re a nice guy like that?” It was going to be a hassle to explain the bruises on his neck to his mother when he got home. Never mind that fact that he never told her how late he was planning on staying out tonight. Yesterday. This morning. Whatever.

Ray shrugged, walking down the driveway even though he didn’t know where JJ lived. “Because I feel kind of bad about it.”

JJ followed Ray after snapping a quick pic of his back. “Well,” JJ started as he caught up and took another photo of Ray in profile. “You can make it up to me. Buy me a Slurpee.”

“If you’re going to be high maintenance this isn’t gonna work, JJ.” Ray playfully knocked the camera out of his face, keeping up his stride as they walked down the sidewalk in some arbitrary direction. JJ laughed, snapping a few more pictures just to be annoying.

“Yeah, well, If you’re gonna complain, I’m not gonna let you in my pants next time.”

Ray stopped in his tracks. “N-next time?” He looked at JJ doe-eyed, like a deer caught in the blinding beam of some sort of sexual headlights.

JJ slowed to a stop, grin faltering. He was joking, but he didn’t expect that sort of response from the guy. “Or not? If you don’t want to?”

Ray looked around, avoiding direct eye contact with JJ. Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, he scratched the back of his neck again. He chose his next words carefully, “Let’s…take it slow.” JJ’s mouth twitched. He found Ray’s apparent embarrassment towards sex both amusing and comforting. Ray coughed awkwardly and tried to correct himself and save face, “For your sake. I mean, we just met after all.”

God, this guy was adorable.

“Riiiight,” JJ shot Ray a sly smile, “For my sake.”

Ray bumped his shoulder against JJ’s, trying and failing to bite back a smile of his own, “Shut it.”

JJ drew his fingers across his mouth like an invisible zipper, locking it with an invisible key, “Didn’t say a word.”

Ray forwent a response and the two settled into silence. It was early Sunday morning and JJ had met a boy. A delightfully nerdy boy who was just as socially inept as he was. It was early Sunday morning and JJ had kissed a boy, nearly lost his virginity to a boy, and he had the pictures to prove it. Sort of. The sun was due to rise within the hour. JJ was new at this. He didn’t know what he was doing and he was pretty sure Ray didn’t either, but even in the fading high JJ didn’t find it awkward or forced as they walked beneath the dying streetlamps towards the welcoming lights of the closest convenience store.

They ended up at a 7-11. Ray bought JJ a Slurpee and JJ bought an armful of junk food.

“How are you gonna carry all that?” Ray asked as they watched the cashier scan and bag everything.

JJ gulped down his frozen treat through a red straw. He could practically feel his mouth changing color. “Figured we could split the load,” he admitted, straw still clenched between his teeth.

Ray rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything to the contrary. JJ looped the handle of one of the bags around his wrist and continued slurping his slushy.

After leaving the 7-11 with a bag of snacks each, JJ and Ray continued their aimless walk. JJ didn’t ask Ray if he was avoiding going home or if he just wanted to spend more time together. He hoped it was the latter, to be honest, but he was afraid to jinx it. When they passed by a park about a block from the store, JJ was actually pretty sure he recognized where he was. He didn’t live far from here if he was remembering things correctly. Before he could open his mouth and tell Ray that his home was nearby however, he felt heat against his empty hand that had been dangling by his side and all thoughts of home flew from his mind. Ray’s fingers were brushing again his and JJ suddenly felt giddy.

He linked his fingers with Ray’s, trying his best to keep his voice steady as he spoke, “Y’know, if you wanted to hold hands, you could have just asked.”

Ray shrugged and JJ noted how flushed his face was. Who cared about getting home? Who cared about how JJ was probably in deep shit once he showed up on his own doorstep twelve hours after he left home, smelling like weed and alcohol and a _boy_? He might as well make the most of tonight at this point.

“Hey,” JJ tugged Ray towards the park, the equipment silhouetted in the fading darkness, “Let’s climb the monkey bars real quick.”

“The fuck? Why?” Ray didn’t get a chance to really protest because JJ was already lugging him towards the metal bars that were nestled between the slide and the swings. Only when they got to the base of the bars did JJ let go. He gazed up at the monkey bars with childlike wonder. It had been a while since he had been on a playground. There was no recess in high school. Ray’s teasing voice cut through the awe, “Having second thoughts there, champ? Didn’t think this one through, huh?”

JJ puffed up his chest and placed one foot on the lowest horizontal rung. He clambered up the stair-like bars easy enough, but it was the ones above his head that were determined to give him trouble. JJ gripped the cool metal with his one free hand and took a moment to just let himself hang there. His feet weren’t as far off the ground as they used to be, back when he was younger and smaller and hid behind a camera less, but it felt nice all the same. Once he had gotten his fill of playground nostalgia, JJ hoisted himself up. First one leg, then the other, and in no time he had scrambled his way up on top of the monkey bars. He let his feet dangle off the edge and looked down at Ray.

“Your turn.”

Ray sighed. “Am I going to regret making out with you? Should I just stop planning our second date while I still have time?”

JJ swung his feet and took a sip of his Slurpee that he somehow had managed to not spill during his journey to conquer the monkey bars. “We just met tonight. You’ve got plenty of time to regret getting to know me. Now get up here.”

Ray managed to climb his way up to the top with considerably less grace than JJ had, which JJ hadn’t thought was possible. When Ray plopped down next to him, breathing heavy and glasses askew, JJ leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. Ray wiped at the invisible mark the kiss left behind. His face was red but JJ didn’t know if that was embarrassment or exertion tinting his cheeks.

JJ leaned back and looked at the sky. The deep navy of the night that had been pockmarked by stars was fading into the cotton candy pastels of early morning. The sun was coming up. It was officially tomorrow. JJ laid down and the sky opened up above him like a great big expanse of color. His eyelids felt heavy. He watched the sun rise through thick lashes and, although he felt so sleepy, he would consider this one of the greatest weekends he’d had by far.

JJ sat up. He handed Ray his now empty cup, earning a questionable look and inquisitive noise. He didn’t bother to explain, he just picked up his camera from around his neck and turned to Ray. The shutter clicked and JJ captured the perfect moment against the changing sky with this kid he met tonight, smoked with tonight, and probably fell in love with tonight.

They were just a couple of nerds, Grade A losers, coming down from a high in the middle of a park at four am, and life was good.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't go with the typical "book smart, loves to study, socially awkward" type of nerd because I wanted to play around with stereotypes/cliches. So JJ's that one weird kid who doesn't really talk to people but is super into one specific hobby and somehow makes every conversation about that one specific hobby. Ray is that really obnoxious kid who's so fucking loud and annoying and kind of rude and likes video games entirely too much.
> 
> Those both classify as nerds, right???
> 
> Also punk rock nerdy loser high schooler JJ is my favorite JJ.


End file.
